Festivities Food & Fun! March 25, 2011

This week has been a pretty good one {looking back}. We have had lots of fun and family time. 🙂

Tuesday Ana and I were supposed to go to a playdate at a park about 30 min. from us but… let’s just say she didn’t want to get up! So we went to a park closer and ran errands instead. It was still lots of fun, and I got to chat with a nice mom while we were at the park too! 🙂

Wednesday we stayed home, but Ana had some things in mind for us as soon as we got up (you’ll see in the pics). 😉

Thursday (yesterday) we went downtown! Thursdays in G’ville’s beautiful downtown is Downtown Alive! Live music and local vendors on the street! It was great :). Not many vendors yesterday, but I’m sure as the season warms up there will be more and more! We also tried (and loved) another mexican restaurant, this one downtown (of course)!

Today (Friday) my grandma Pat and papaw Larry came down! Papaw cleaned up my yard (mowed and weed-eated), while mamaw put another perm in my hair! 🙂 (It was way overdue… both things!) And finally, tomorrow my in-laws are coming back down for more food and fun! 😀

Yep it’s been a great week, and it’s looking like a great weekend!

Hope your’s is fabulous too!  

{Hover over an image for a description}

 

Fit for the dogs… March 4, 2011

…that pretty much sums up my night and my breakfast. 😦 Ana hasn’t been feeling well, and if you have kids you know that= no sleep. Thankfully this morning she seems to be feeling a little better. {Just so you know I don’t blog if she is sick, thus no post yesterday.}

As I said my breakfast was pretty much disgusting… I tried a meal idea from my INSANITY nutrition guide and I was SO disappointed! It was power protein oatmeal (plain oatmeal with vanilla whey protein and berries). Maybe I made it wrong, but this is how it turned out…

Does that look disgusting or what!? The texture was like a mixture of grits and oatmeal… Maybe like eating polenta uncooked…? (Polenta is very good… cooked!)

So I went back to my trusty (up until this point) guide, and I decided on an omelet! However I didn’t have everything it called for, so I improvised! Here is was I came up with after a long hard look at my fridge.

L’arte d’arrangiarsi!

The art of making something out of nothing!

This was my power breakfast, and let me tell you it brought me out of my slump!

• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• leftover Grilled Asparagus
• 1 medium tomato diced
• 1 slice whole-wheat toast
• 1 Tbsp all fruit preserves
• 1 large orange

Make the eggs and egg-whites omelet style, saute veggies, top toast with preserves and VIOLA!

My sweet baby-girl (whom I playing tea party with as I type (a mom’s multitasking talent), also had a wonderful breakfast! Over 1/2 of her bowl of oatmeal, a whole egg and some sautéed tomatoes! I was more happy that she ate something than anything! (She pretty much won’t eat when she feels bad.) So when she asked my for a “tookie” I happily handed one over!

Who says you can’t have dessert after breakfast!?

I do have one more thing to share with all of my “bloggies”! A new recipe!!! This is once again inspired by my nutrition guide but tailored to our liking and caloric needs for the day! You can do the same with this recipe…

Pasta Surprise

(lame name, I know, but oh well the taste makes up for it!)

• 1 lb whole wheat penne pasta
• 1 bag frozen bell pepper strips with onions
• garlic (4-5 cloves minced)
• 2 cans tuna
• italian seasoning, S&P (to taste)
• feta and  quatro formaggio cheeses (low-fat)

Cook pasta al dente, in a separate pan saute garlic in olive oil until fragrant, add peppers and onions, saute 3-5 minutes until warmed, add spices and tuna and heat through. When pasta is cooked drain and toss with the vegetable mixture. Serve sprinkled with cheeses.

One good size portion (1 1/2 cups) of this is probably about 450 calories.

This was a huge success! My hubby loved it! 🙂 Which makes me very happy!

 

Much love and happiness to you all!

Day 2… Accountability March 1, 2011

Today I have been trying to be accountable for all of my calories. I am writing down everything I eat, and breaking down the calories item by item. I really want to make sure I am hitting the right caloric range because, I know that if I am not getting enough calories, or fuel, I won’t be able to burn off the excess… gunk. {lol}

So here’s the breakdown….

Breakfast: 8:45 am

This morning was delicious!

• 1 slice of light wheat bread (40 cal)
• 1 Tbsp all natural PB (95 cal)
• 1.5 tsp all fruit blackberry preserves (25 cal)
• 1 cup berries (strawberries & blueberries) (65 cal)
• Activia light yogurt (70 cal)
• 1/4 cup kashi crunch (with flax seed) (25 cal)
• Coffee with flavored creamer (45 cal)

                                        {I only drank half of my coffee}

Grand total: 368 calories

I was not at all happy about this… I was aiming for at least 400 calories. I know, I wasn’t that far off, but this is where the obsessing comes in…

So, I will be trying to make up for that at my next “meal” or my mid-moning snack. I am supposed to eat 5 times a day…

Mid-Morning Snack: 10:45 am

“Vanilla Berry Protein Shake”

• 1 cup 1% milk (110 cal)
•  1 cup strawberries (46 cal)
• 1/2 of a medium banana (50 cal)
• 2 Tbsp all-natural Peanut Butter (190 cal)
• Ice to taste

Grand total: 396 calories

Much better! I almost hit 400 calories at this “meal”!

Lunch: 1:45 pm

•  Whole Wheat English Muffin (120 cal)
• Tuna (50 cal)
• 1 Tbsp.vegenaaise (35 cal)
• 1 Tbsp. dill relish (16 cal)
• 1/4 cup cheese (50 cal)Mixed Greens Salad w/ Balsamic Vinegarette (35 cal)

Grand total: 306 calories

Afternoon Snack: 5:15 pm

• 1 slice light wheat bread (40 cal)
• 1 Tbsp all-natural peanut butter (95 cal)
• 1 tsp honey (21 cal)
• Greek yogurt cup (90 cal)
• 1/4 cup blueberries (20 cal)
• 1/4 cup Kashi crunch cereal with flax seeds (50 cal)

Grand total: 316 calories

I know this was late for a “snack” but really they are 5 small meals. I knew we would have to eat supper late since Joseph didn’t get off until 5:00 pm, and then he had to go to the store… Such is life.

So after Joseph got home it was time for our mad crazy butt kickin’ workout! And oh did it kick our hineys!!! It was great though. we were sweating and pushing ourselves SO hard! A few times I had to stop because I was light-headed and nauseous! It was intense, even more so than yesterday!

Ok, I promise I’m not usually always this ugly, but this was right after a crazy workout! I am flushed and sweaty… Ewwwwww!!!

 As much as I felt like puking then, I had to go cook supper… 😛

Supper: 8:00 pm

(I know late, but there was nothing I could do about that today.)

 

Stir-Fry!

• 5 oz. Salmon
• Stir fried broccoli, mushrooms, and snow peas with homemade sauce
• 2/3 cup cooked brown rice

Grand total: 400 calories

That brings me to today’s……. Final total!!!!!

Final total: 1,786 calories!

Yay!!! I hit my range… although my mind does go into a spiral of … whoa… that’s too much… I never eat that many calories… Oh no!… but it’s what the formula says I need, so it’s what I will do!

Welp, it’s time for me to hit the shower and the sack!

Much Love

Planes… er Rocket Ships, Trains and Automobiles February 22, 2011

Hello Blog world! Sorry I didn’t get to give more detail about my day yesterday, but I have the time and energy to tell you now!

So yesterday was great! Up at 5:30 am to take the hubby to work… Yay 5:30 am! (sarcasm  intended)…

Sleeping Hard!

 

Sweet baby! *muah*

Look at that face! I don't even wanna know what she is thinking...

We had a mom’s breakfast meetup to go to and I really wanted to meet more mommies! So we went, and let me say that Cracker Barrel isn’t exactly vegetarian friendly… but oh well, I had 2 eggs and 1/2 of a biscuit. Ana hardly ate (as the trend continues) 😦 Breakfast was fun, it was nice to have grown up conversation with other moms!

Afterwards we went to our my favorite place The Mall!!! I did have a very specific reason for going… Ana had been asking me for a week for a “feener” (ring) and I had saw a very cute one that I wanted to get her. Of course I couldn’t stick to the plan and ended up buying her the ring that also came with a necklace, and a bracelet… rotten child! 

Ana's Bling Ring!

Ana's new bracelet... She HAD to have this!

 

Wearing her "nessace"

 

Adorable!

I also bought myself a new scarf!!! One I have been looking for since the beginning of fall!

Wow I look tired! Oh well, you get the picture… Leopard!!! …and it’s an eternity scarf!

 

After I decided I didn’t need to spend any more $$$ I let Ana play in the kid area. 🙂 (This is where the Rocket Ships and etc. come from, fyi). 😉 She loved playing, but as usual she took a while to warm up to all of the other kids. When she did, it was not what I expected!… She was BOSSY!!! Not to all of the kids, just the ones trying to slide down the slide while she tried to climb up it, and to the boys! She would say “NO! I wuna swide”, or “Sop it!”. She has no clue how to share yet and it is now apparent that we HAVE to work on that!

Rocket Ship...

 

 

 

"Piddy"!

 

 

She loved jumping off of this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During all of this fun I began chit-chatting with a couple next to me… A very odd couple. Muscle man, good looking guy, and a very… earthy/hippie woman. As we talked (the mom and I) I found out our daughters were only 2 days apart! Cool right… Well the dad thought so, and when he verbalized this I almost laughed… He sounded like Mickey Mouse! (Steroids?) …I had a hard time not staring before the conversation because they just didn’t match, but now… I don’t even know how I managed to notice my daughter running out of the play area toward the $4 a pop train ride in the mall. (Hokey I think, but whatev).

 

After all of this playtime she became extra sassy and I had to put her in timeout… When I told her what was happening and why, she said “Otay” and laid on the bench… Whhaaaat!? I almost lost it, she normally throws a FIT! Later after playing more she walked up to me and said “Mommy Ina time out”… Did she just ask for time out?… Yep!… So I let her have another… Why not?! {haha} I decided this was her way of telling me she was done, so we left, and she was fine!

Today

…was almost as fun. We stayed home, but since the weather was SO nice (72*) we spent most of the afternoon outside! Somehow I managed to get a farmers tan only on my right arm… weird? I also raked my front yard, which I will never call small again! There had to be 2 years worth of leaves out there…. This did help me out with my water consumption! 2 Liters in today!

Well you guys have a great day (or night)!

Until Next Time, Toodles 😉

A Berry Good Breakfast! February 20, 2011

So this morning I was trying to figure out what to eat and upon looking in my fridge I found my inspiration! This morning was perfect for a Granola Berry Mixer!

Start with your choice of berries fresh or frozen. Here I used  fresh strawberries and blueberries.

Drizzle the fruit with agave (or honey) and lemon juice, then heat the berry mixture for a minute or two in the microwave.

Mash up the fruit mixture with a fork, making a berry compote! ( I love that word “compote”)

Careful with the blueberries… they’re squirters!

Now add the granola…

… and mix in a little “moot” for creaminess (Moot=Milk at our house) 😉

Of course no breakfast is complete without COFFEE!!!! Viola, there you have it! My fantabulous Granola Berry Mixer!!! SOOO delicious!

Now I’m off to take care of my hubby… His back is all messed up so he is out of comission for the day.

Peace and Love